Ostrander Law Office - Western Mass Automatic Stay Attorneys

The most obvious and immediate benefit of filing for relief under any chapter of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code is the sudden halt to all attempts by your creditors to collect anything you owed them before you filed your bankruptcy petition. For further information about how you can make all of your creditors leave you alone, contact the Northampton, Massachusetts debtor's attorneys at Ostrander Law Office.

As soon as the petition and filing fee are presented to the Bankruptcy Court, an Order for Relief is issued, which imposes an "automatic stay" from collection activities by your creditors. The automatic stay works as an injunction against any attempt to enforce or collect a debt, including:

• Commencing or continuing a mortgage foreclosure
• Repossessing an automobile or other collateral that secures a debt
• Filing a lawsuit to obtain a judgment against you
• Garnishing your wages, or continuing a garnishment that's already begun
• Levying on bank accounts, rights to payment, or other assets
• Attempts to collect credit card debts
• Making a demand or request for payment from you in any form, including telephone calls

Even creditors whose claims against you are not subject to discharge - such as the IRS or the recipient of child support obligations - are covered by the automatic stay, and must stop any current collection activities.

While your bankruptcy case is pending, each of your creditors needs to get Bankruptcy Court permission before it can do anything to enforce its claim against you. Our Hampshire County bankruptcy attorneys can explain this process to you and defend your interests if a creditor seeks "relief from the automatic stay". In most cases, we can negotiate a mutually satisfactory arrangement with a creditor to prevent a home mortgage foreclosure or motor vehicle repossession.

In rare cases, a creditor will intentionally ignore the bankruptcy case and continue its collection efforts against you. In those situations, our Massachusetts automatic stay enforcement lawyers can represent you in a legal action against the offending creditor if the creditor's actions are not justified.

For a more complete understanding of your rights and benefits under bankruptcy's automatic stay, contact the western Massachusetts consumer bankruptcy attorneys at Ostrander Law Office.

Western Massachusetts automatic stay attorneys at the Ostrander Law Office help individual, consumer, family, and small business bankruptcy debtors by keeping their creditors from making collection calls, filing lawsuits, foreclosing mortgages, or repossessing collateral in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases. Northampton bankruptcy debtor's attorneys David Ostrander and Denise Shear represent clients in Hampshire County, Franklin County, Hampden County, Berkshire County, and Worcester County, including Springfield, Pittsfield, Chicopee, Amherst, Holyoke, Easthampton, Greenfield, Westfield, North Adams, Deerfield, Great Barrington, South Hadley, and Longmeadow MA.